"Send For Me...I'm just a telephone call away..."

"James...you can't answer the phone, you can't return calls, what's going on?" My best friend Y (I'm still uncomfortable with using folks' governments on this blog, go figure) has called me by my middle name since we were kids, and I used to vehemently - and to a larger extent, childishly - admonish him for calling me that. Now, I could care less. It's just great to hear a familiar voice on the other end of the line. We talked about his recent campaign for city council back home, and he joked that he was going to mortuary school to run for office because the two guys that won spots out of the Democratic primary were funeral directors. Just because they bury a lot of victims of my hometown's violence, does not mean they know how to stop the killings. My mother and I were angry because my boy was built for this. He's been in government on SOME level since grade school - he knows the ins and outs of city government and even had a well-thought out plan to strengthen neighborhood schools. But he's fine with it, and if he's content with his efforts, then I'm proud of him.

We also talked about our other best friend J who by the miracle of God is going to receive a kidney after his own failed him earlier in the spring, just a few weeks after his mother's sudden death from Diabetes. We were both glad for that bit of good news, and Y was surprised when I told him I prayed for our boy. The irony of my relationship with God is that I haven't stopped by his crib in a minute. I was last a regular church-goer in the spring of 1999, and for my own reasons, I have yet to find a place to worship, and not really breaking my neck to do so. But I do make an effort to at least verbalize my thoughts and feelings, hopes and wishes to God so he can at least know that I believe in Him and whatever plan he has for me, I'm more than willing to follow along. Y is a really devout Christian, not to the point of Bible Thumper, Judge and Jury, but he is strong on faith. And I could tell he was pleased on the other end when I told him I sent one up for our dog.

A 15 minute conversation like that can really make one's day, and it really picked up my day, especially less than two weeks from my 27th birthday where I'll more than likely spend it alone or working. So I plan to touch base with my friends and family more often until I can do something about my current situation of loneliness. Even though this place sucks, it's good to know the people that you are closest to are really just a few phone buttons away.